‘Russ drank two bottles of Coruba rum at the races then demanded to be driven to the Auckland night trots. We hadn′t been that keen on going to the trots, but when we dropped him there we figured we might as well stay for a couple of races.[…]’

The introduction of harness racing on Saturday nights at nearby Wayville in 1934 caused serious consequences for the rest of the 1930s as ‘the trots’ regularly attracted crowds of 20 000. When the trots began to offer free admission to children accompanying their parents, the state Exhibitors′ Association, of which Thompson was then chair, tried to agitate against this on moral grounds.